Being Human

Age Quod Agis

     Six months? Is that how long I have to be here? “Um, I…yeah, I guess so.”

    “You don’t sound very sure.”

    “I’m uh, a bit drowsy, sorry.”

    She clucked sympathetically for some reason. “No aunts or uncles?”

   “No, I don’t think so.”

   She turned right to this door marked “MS. E. HART” in great bold letters. “Here we are then,” she said, pushing the door open. Standing near the window was a tall boy with dark hair. He was wearing a blue polo shirt, a red watch and gray jeans that seemed to do wonders for him. His blue sneakers looked pristine, as though he had just gone to the mall and bought a pair of shoes before coming here. Something about him seemed very familiar to me, and true enough, when he turned around, it was-

     “Emile?”

     He grinned at me. “Hey bro, sup?”

     “What are you doing here? “ I hissed at him as Ms. Hart closed the door.

     “Father sent me of course!” he hissed right back at me. “Now now, let’s go home, shall we? Thank you Ms. Hart. I can take it from here,” Emile said, smiling a most beatific smile.

      For a moment, Ms. Hart looked mystified. Emile can be such a charmer sometimes. I rolled my eyes at him as Ms. Hart answered “Oh, uh…alright. How old did you say you were?”

     “Eighteen, ma’am. Quite young,” he said, winking, “for you.” As we left the room I could’ve sworn Ms. Hart was giggling, her face a very, very deep red.

     “You were such a flirt,” I muttered as we walked towards the parking lot. Going down wasn’t such an easy task. Small melees of students were crowding near the entrance, but they all parted when they say Emile and I. The girls had their mouths hanging open, and the guys stopped and stared. I looked at them all curiously. What is wrong with them? Then I looked at Emile. Of course. It had to be Emile, Emile of the charming smile and inexplicably green eyes. Even before when we were still up in Heaven I always wondered why his eyes were so green. Did Father accidentally drop chlorophyll on them or something?

      “I don’t exactly remember,” Father said when I asked him. He scratched his beard, trying to remember. “Why?”

      “Nothing, Father. It’s just that they’re so green. And mine are…well, too blue. “

      Father laughed. “They’ll be of use to you one day.”

      Anyway, going back to Emile.

      “I,” Emile said as we walked-or in his case, sauntered- “was not being a flirt. I was trying to do as humans would when they want to get out as fast as they can.”

     “That is what human-what’s that they call it?-assholes­ do when they want favors done for them!”

     Emile grinned, oblivious to my insult. “Yeah well it got us out here in time, didn’t it? Look,” he said, pointing behind us.

      The school bell had rung already, and the students filed out of their classrooms for break. Most of the girls who were already in the courtyard were staring at us. I noticed that their eyes took in the fact that I was wearing the school uniform, and then whispered in each other’s ears. Most of the girls were giggling. I shook my head in annoyance. “We’d better go, Emile. What are we doing here anyway?”

      For the first time Emile looked uncomfortable. “Uh, well…I can’t find the car. “

      “We have a car?” I asked him blankly.

      Emile muttered something under his breath and started walking. Hitching my school bag higher, I followed Emile, curious. While walking I spotted Megan, who was coming out from the school building, her hair flying in the wind. It was now my turn to stare. She had long red hair which curled near the ends, and under the sunlight it was streaked with gold. She had a rosy complexion, but it wasn’t entirely flawless-he could see some scars from previous pimples and whatnot on her face (wow I can see those from afar? I thought). She was tall and a bit curvy. She walked briskly, like she was in a hurry to get out of school, and her school bag swung on her shoulder. Her uniform, I could see, was neatly pressed and spotlessly clean, but at the moment she seemed like she didn’t care about having her sleeves neat-she had folded them up to her elbows and her tie was loose.

      She was beautiful.

      “Aha! Finally, I found it!” Emile’s triumphant yell broke through my thoughts. “What do you think, eh? Fancy huh?” he said proudly, beeping the car open. He turned to look at Louis. “What are you staring at?”

     “Nothing. Nothing, I-whoa.”

     “I know. I said the same thing too, when I first saw it. Now come along, hop in. “

[1] Latin, again. This time it means “To the business at hand.” All this Latin means something, I assure you.